Christmas: a movable, ongoing feast

Tonight, at long last, after snow and ice storms, massive power outages for days and just lots of life happening since Christmas, my two dear friends and I (20 years of friendship and prayer partners) FINALLY got together for dinner and to share Christmas with one another. Although it's been some time since all the "trappings" of Christmas have come down, the spirit and love of the Christmas season flowed richly among us as we shared simple good food, wonderful conversation and laughter and gave one another our Christmas gifts. Despite it being January 13, nothing at ALL seemed odd about this. My friends and I have many responsibilities, involvements in our churches, families, work, and variables in our lives over which we have only limited (if any) control. So, it's not unusual that our birthday and Christmas celebrations have sometimes been "extended" like this. That's how we feel about them. Reality might say these festive holiday get-togethers have been "delayed", but in our hearts, they are simply *extended* --- that the joy has just expanded and certainly nothing is lost in celebrating significantly long after the rest of the world has put Christmas away.


On the drive back home, I gave some thought about how this is really how it should always be. Oh, I don't mean that people should purposely *extend* or wait longer before they celebrate Christmas, but that we should keep a Christmas heart all year long....live a Christmas life every day. Oops....this doesn't mean multiple trips to the mall and more presents. Nope. Jesus came to us, born anew in our hearts at Christmas and our response is to spread the word and do the "work" of Christmas all year long.


The late Dr. Howard Thurman wrote a wonderful poem, "The Work of Christmas" which describes this perfectly. As we step further into the New Year, let's think about this and carry Christmas along with us in what we do as well as how we are with one another. Here's the poem,

"The Work of Christmas"

"When the star in the sky is gone,
When the Kings and Princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To release the prisoner,
To teach the nations,
To bring Christ to all,
To make music in the heart."

Now, wouldn't the world, or even just our little corner of it be so much brighter, lighter, and happier if we were to do this all year long? :-)